The Procussions

All Music Guide:

The Procussions, a self-contained underground rap trio from Colorado Springs, CO, features J. Medeiros, Stro, and Rez. They debuted in 2003 with As Iron Sharpens Iron, which was released on the Basementalism label, and then followed up with a release on the reactivated Rawkus: 2006's 5 Sparrows for 2 Cents.

Wikipedia:

The Procussions are an American hip hop group, consisting of two members: Mr. J. Medeiros and Stro Elliot. The group got its start in 1998 in their hometown of Colorado Springs, Colorado but released their first record in 2003 in Los Angeles, California. Originally, there were four members, Qq (pronounced "Q"), became inactive after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2000, and Rez, who left the group in 2006. The group went on hiatus in late 2007, as Mr. J. Medeiros and Stro Elliot pursued solo careers and in 2011 announced they have regrouped to record a third album. The Procussions are now Mr. J. Medeiros and Stro Elliot.

Career [edit]

2003 - 2006 [edit]

In 2000, The Procussions released their first single "All That It Takes" on ABB records. In 2002 they moved from their hometown of Colorado Springs, CO to Los Angeles, California and recorded their first full length album, As Iron Sharpens Iron. This album was released independently in (2003) followed by a national tour. In 2004 The Procussions recorded an all night "Jam" session from 10:00 pm to 6:00, engineered by Jason Skills of The Sound Providers), which came to be known as the Up All Night EP. The EP was exclusively released in Japan later that year. The Procussions spent 2003-2005 touring the U.S., Europe, Canada, Japan, and Australia. In 2004 The Procussions met with French Hip Hop group Hocus Pocus and would go on to make appearances on three of their albums, including "Place 54" which hit Gold status in France. In 2006, The Procussions were signed to Rawkus Records as one of the first artists on the re-launched Rawkus imprint- their second album 5 Sparrows for 2 Cents was released later that year, followed by the groups first co-headlining tour "The Storm Tour", which featured Mayday, Aceyalone, and Ugly Duckling.

In 2006 - 2007 the group became the opening act, on tour, with a number of Hip Hop groups including A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, and De La Soul.

2007 [edit]

The Procussions took a break from making music as a group to focus on pursuing solo careers. Later that year, Mr. J. Medeiros released his debut album, "Of gods and girls", on Rawkus Records, which included the single "Constance"- the first Hip Hop song about human trafficking and internet pornography. To raise awareness on this issue Medeiros formed the iamconstance.com campaign, which partnered with international non-profit organizations to fight human trafficking and sexual abuse. "Constance" gathered enough attention to land itself on the CBS Evening News in an expo on sex trafficking. The music video was considered by MTV to be "too controversial to air", Medeiros found commercial support via VH1 and a guest appearance on TLC's T.V. show Miami Ink.

2009 [edit]

Mr. J. Medeiros started his own label De Medeiros LLC, which has released four projects.

"The Art of Broken Glass EP" by: Mr. J. Medeiros 2009 "Friends Enemies Apples Apples" by: Mr. J. Medeiros 2009 "Saudade" by Mr. J. Medeiros 2011 "Pale Blue Dot EP" by Mr. J. Medeiros 2012

2010 [edit]

The song "Little People" was used on Blue Mountain State an American television show on the Spike TV channel.

Stro the 89th Key (aka Stro Elliot) released a collection of "Instromentals" from 2004-2010 and "Stro's Beat Farm".

2011 [edit]

Mr. J. Medeiros and Stro Elliot announce they've reformed The Procussions and are currently working with the crowd sourcing site "Indiegogo" to fund their next album, due out March 5.

Humanitarian Work [edit]

On July 19, 2007, Mr. J. Medeiros announced the start of his international human rights movement called the "Constance Campaign", inspired by a true story about a Filipino girl victimized by human trafficking and child pornography.